The Glitch Alchemist
by SilentJo
Summary: Ed finds himself on the other side of the portal of Truth, in a parallel world much like his own, only several decades later. He meets a young girl named Aura who offers to help him find his way back home. When tragedy strikes, Edward is left with an important decision to make. A decision that will change not only Aura's life, but his own as well...
1. Chapter 1: The Cafe

_Volume 1: Origins_

_Chapter 1: The Cafe_

"There's more sorrow on your face than someone twice your age should have."

A worried voice said to a now attentive Edward Elric. He looked up to see a waitress for the outdoor cafe he claimed a seat from watching him. She was about his age, with light brown hair that was put up in a ponytail that fell past her shoulders, and light colored eyes that he couldn't identify as any one color.

"Are you okay? You look like you're lost, anything I can do to help?", she said cheerily, hoping her positive attitude could help cheer the young man up.

"Not unless you've got an inter-dimensional portal hidden back behind your coffee pots."

"An intra-what-a-ma-portal? Look, I don't know all that much about science, professor, but how about I bring you something to drink. Coffee, or maybe some ice cold milk or juice?"

"Blech, even here I'm getting the 'drink your milk' lectures...", Edward mumbled, getting defensive and crossing his arms.

"Well how about I bring you some soda and a few snacks, I'll be right back!", the waitress said as she went off to the cafe's kitchen.

Soon after she returned with a glass of soda, cookies, and a sandwich.

"I appreciate the gesture, but I don't think I have enough to pay for all of this...", Ed spoke while pushing his hands into his pockets.

"Don't worry about it, I just wanted to help make your day a little better, I know it's not my business, but I have a sixth sense when it comes to reading people's emotions, and you just reek of sadness. No offense of course!"

Ed stopped eating (he really did need the food after all), looking shocked and slightly embarrassed, "Well, looks like whatever sense you had was right, my name's Edward, by the way."

"Oh, silly me, all this chatter and you don't even know my name, it's nice to meet you Edward, my name is Aura, and it's no problem at all, I just enjoy helping people."

"Thanks, I kinda did need a little food for a pick-me-up after all. I hate to leave without paying anything though, is there anything I can do around here to help?" Edward said hopefully, thinking an odd job could help take his mind off of his current situation.

"AURA! GET OVER HERE NOW!" a gruff, stocky man yelled from the entrance of the cafe.

"Uh oh, I'll be right back, go ahead and finish your food." Aura walked back to where her boss now stood, obviously not amused that she had given away food again.

"How many times do I have to tell you Aura, if you give my food away, I don't make money, and if I don't make money, I don't pay you."

"I'm sorry sir, but he just looked like he could use some help."

"This isn't a homeless shelter Aura, it's a business, and I am tired of seeing my money being wasted because you have a soft spot for the needy. You can't go around trying to save every lost cause that wanders your way."

"Well if I don't help them, no one in this sorry town will! People are supposed to help those who need it, and then they can do the same for the people they meet."

"That's wishful thinking sweetheart, you're young but you'll find out soon enough that the world doesn't operate on the same high ideals you hold yourself to. Now who's gonna pay for what that little urchin ate? Are you gonna pay for it again?"

"HEY, WHO ARE YOU CALLING LITTLE?!" said Ed, who was really trying to respect the privacy of their conversation until he was mentioned.

"Gee, he sure looks like he's going to pay back your kindness now, doesn't he Aura, smart mouthed brat!"

"Can't blame him for being angry, it's rude what you just said about him! Paying customer or not!"

"I've had about all I can take from both of you, get your stuff together Aura, you're fired!"

"That's fine with me! I'd appreciate it if you'd pay me the wages I've earned, since I don't intend on ever coming back to this dump after I walk out of here."

Aura's boss grumbled to himself as he got some money out of the register and counted out what Aura earned since her last payday.

"There, that's what you've earned, minus the cost of the meal you provided for your new 'friend' over there.", he said while handing her the money.

"Thanks, best of luck to you and your booming business!", she said cheerfully as she watched him grumble and walk back into the cafe.

"Whoa, did I just get you fired, Aura?" Edward said, worried but not sure why.

"Don't worry about it, that guy was a jerk from the day I started. Now let's spend this money the right way," she said with an evil smirk on her face.

...

Aura's former boss came back out to wait on the tables Aura had left behind, when he noticed his patio was empty.

"I know I had at least 5 tables that ordered here?!", he looked around bewildered. Then he happened to look towards the rival coffee shop across the street and saw his customers, as well as Aura and that strange young man smiling and waving to him.

"What's the meaning of this?!", he yelled across the street, eyes glaring at Aura and the kid in the red coat.

"Well I figured I'd put the last bit of the money I earned from you to good use, I offered it to the people at your shop as an inconvenience fee of sorts for having to listen to all your grumpy and rude remarks. Then I brought them here for some good food and service!"

The words coming from her former boss' mouth were rather unintelligible by the time they made it across the street, and after a long satisfying sigh, Aura decided to get going. Edward was rather impressed with the way she handled the situation, but was still left with a twinge of guilt for being the cause of all the ruckus.

"So, where are you off to now? You heading home?" Aura asked Edward, who got that same worrisome look on his face once more.

"No, to be honest I don't really know where home is right now. It's a long story, but as far as I know, home isn't anywhere near here for me."

"Well, I know we just met and all, but if you want you can crash at my place, get some rest, and maybe check some maps or do some research on where you should go next. Give you a base of operations, so to speak."

"That would be great! I don't want to burden you too much though, so I'd only ask to stay long enough to figure out where I am and where I should go."

"It's no problem at all, it'll be nice to have good company for a while." said Aura as she opened up the door and let them into the house.

It was a modest family home, with room for a full family, not just one person. Strangely, there were no pictures displayed showing Aura or any of her family around the house. She showed him into the spare room and then went into the kitchen to make something to eat. As they finished eating, she told him that they can look up the information on her computer, and found it odd that he'd never even seen a computer before. They went into her room to look up information, but it didn't take long for Ed to fall asleep right where he was sitting on Aura's bed. She shook her head, leaned him down and put a pillow down for him and covered him with a blanket, then went into the kitchen to clean up.


	2. Chapter 2: The Locked Door

A loud crash woke Ed as he heard Aura yell out in pain. He discovered the door locked from the outside, as well as a note saying "please don't make any noise, it'll only make it worse. I'll explain everything once he's gone." Ed then tried to hear what was going on as he tried to get through the door. He heard an older man talking to Aura, who sounded frightened of him.

"Why do you do this, Aura? After all I have to do for you, you always make me angry enough to hurt you!" said Lucien, who at nearly 6 feet tall, was towering over Aura, who had shrunk away from him and against the wall as his words and steps got closer.

"You never needed an excuse to hit me before, why start now?"

"You mouthy little bitch!" The unmistakable sound of a fist hitting skin screamed out through the house just as Aura yelled out again.

"If only you had died instead of your mother, at least she knew how to hold her tongue and behave like a woman should!" Lucien yelled, his cold gray eyes reflecting the cruelty of his words to Aura.

"At least there's one thing we can agree on, I wish my mother was here, if I could bring her back I would, no matter what it took!" Edward couldn't help but shudder at that statement, considering he had been in that same situation years ago, with tragic results.

"You should really be careful of what you wish for, Aura. Sometimes wishes come true, even if it isn't what you had intended. I think I've had enough of this tired old routine though, until next month, Aura..."

By the time Ed was able to break through the door, whoever hurt Aura had already left. She was just sitting on the floor against the wall, holding her shoulder, and staring off blankly with tears threatening to fall from her eyes at any moment.

"What happened Aura, who did this to you?!"

It was all Aura could do to keep her composure, but at last she couldn't hold the tears back and started to sob heavily. Ed, obviously clueless on how to handle the crying girl, just sat there and tried to calm her down by telling her that she was safe now.

"Maybe now, but it'll happen again, it always does..." Aura said softly, with a tired look on her face. It was at that moment Ed realized what Aura had meant when she first spoke to him in the cafe. "There's more sorrow on your face than someone twice your age should have." She recognized Ed's sadness and sorrow because she also felt the same way. The look on her face showed a defeated weariness that spoke volumes more than she could out loud at the moment.

"I don't know who that person was Aura, but I won't let him hurt you again. Now what's going on?"

Aura finally got her crying under control and was calm enough to speak. She then told him of her arrangement.

"That was my stepfather, Lucien. My mother married him a few years after my father left us. She started to get sick about three years ago, and she gradually got worse until she couldn't fight it anymore and died a little over a year ago. After her death, we found out in her will that she had left the house, her insurance money, practically everything to me. It was odd, considering Lucien should have been the one to receive them. He isn't exactly lacking in money, but for some reason he was really mad about her leaving everything to me. The catch however, is since I'm not of legal age yet, he still has to act as a guardian and manage the insurance checks that come in, as well as the household finances. So when the check comes in, he has to come here to get my signature so he can deposit it to pay the bills here."

"If he has to do all that, then why doesn't he live here. It seems odd that he'd go through all that for a house he's not even staying in."

"He was up until about six or seven months ago. He claimed that he had a lot of work to do at his lab and that he had his own living arrangements there, so he wouldn't have spent much time at home anyway. I never fully trusted him, and didn't believe that he really loved my mother. I'm surprised that he is following through on her wishes. But he is still angry about my mother's will, and apparently hurting me is a way to make himself feel better for being slighted by my mother."

"What a rotten bastard..." Edward said, "so he shows up here once every month, gets you to sign the check, beats you up and leaves? Why hasn't anyone stopped him, have you told anybody?"

"It'd be his word against mine, and considering he has plenty of "friends in high places", he's made it clear that no one would believe me if I did say anything. He's gotten worse because he knows that once I turn 18 in 3 months, I won't need him to handle any of the finances anymore. I figure if I can just endure the next few months and make it to my birthday, I can be free of him for good."

"He has no right to hurt you like this! You're too nice to deserve this treatment. And why did you lock me in your room like that, I could have helped you! Why is there a lock on the outside anyway?"

"Because he would have flipped his lid if he had seen I had a guy sleeping in my room! He complains enough about having to pay for my living expenses, adding one more person to that would have pissed him off even more." Aura then lowered her voice and told him that the outer lock was put there by Lucien to punish her while he was still living there. "I'm sorry, but I had to lock it, it was the only way to keep things from getting out of control."

Edward heard that and decided that he should leave. "I should go, I don't want you to get hurt because of me if he catches me here."

"No! You haven't even gotten a good lead on where you need to go yet, you can't leave now! And he never shows up until the next check comes in, so you don't have anything to worry about. Please, I wouldn't feel right letting you leave without helping your situation just because you're worried about mine."

Edward thought about it for a moment, and came to a conclusion. "Okay, I'll stay on one condition. I want to teach you self-defense so that you can be prepared for the next time he decides to use you as a punching bag. Is that a deal?"

Aura smiled and through her teary eyes she shook her head in agreement and said "I help you with your problem, you help me with mine, sounds like an equivalent exchange to me." Ed couldn't help but be taken back by those words, which reminded him of something else he wanted to ask her.

"Aura, while I was locked in your room, I heard you say you wished you could bring your mom back. Did you mean that?"

"Of course I meant it! None of this would be happening if she were here. Even with Lucien around, my mom always made things better. Why would you even ask me that, I'm sure you'd do the same if you lost someone you loved!"

"It's a long story Aura, but trust me when I say that you don't want to take that road. It only leads to pain and suffering."

"Well Edward, I think it's time to share this long story of yours, because I have no idea what you're talking about."

And so, Ed shared his story, from the loss of his mother to his and Al's attempt at bringing her back through human transmutation. The losses he and his brother suffered and their journey to regain their bodies. She sat quietly as he described the fights he had with creatures called "Homunculi" who had managed to take over his country for some big event known as "The Promised Day". It was at that point Edward said that the during the final confrontation, the leader of the Homunculi known as Father opened up a portal and he had been forced into it. The other side ended up being her world, where she met him a short while later.

"I'm not even sure if we won the fight against Father or not. I'm hoping that since your world is still here that mine is as well and that my brother Al and everyone fighting against them succeeded."

"Hopefully they did, it sounds like it was a pretty intense battle, I'm sure you must have hated being forced to leave it unfinished. Let me help you get back there, so you can find out what happened."

"So you believe that whole story, just like that?" Edward said, curious if she truly believed him.

"I can tell it's true from the way your eyes looked as you told it. They faded away like they were reminiscing on old memories. You can't fake that. So anyway, it's almost dawn, we should probably get some rest before we start researching tomorrow. I'll take you to the local library, they should have some helpful materials for us."

"Yeah, hopefully they will," Ed said, smiled and stretched as he stood up to go to the spare room. "And thanks again Aura, for everything."

She told him no problem, stretched and yawned herself as she made her way back to her room. Normally after one of Lucien's visits she'd have a hard time finding sleep, but feeling a sense of calm that she hadn't felt since her mother had passed, she drifted off to sleep within minutes of her head hitting the pillow.


	3. Chapter 3: The Library

"Slow down you idiot! You don't even know which way the library is!" said Aura, who was trying to catch up to Ed.

"I can't help it, I want to get started, I can't wait to learn more about your world's view of alchemy or whatever it's equivalent is." Ed yelled back as they approached a busy intersection.

Ed stepped off of the curb looking straight ahead when he felt someone yank him backwards by the hood of his coat. "Hey?! What's your prob..." and before he could finish his sentence a car sped past right where he would have been at that moment.

"You're going to end up a red splotch on the pavement if you don't chill out! I doubt you'll get much research done in that condition."

Still shaken by the close call with the car, Ed took a deep breath and agreed with her. "Yeah I know you're right, but I get so impatient when I feel like the next clue is right around the corner. Thanks for the save, by the way."

"No problem. I want you to find a way home just as much as you, but you can't rush into everything head-on. The light's green now, we should go. The library is right after this next block."

They arrived at a two story building and Edward looked rather underwhelmed. "I was expecting this place to be huge! How am I supposed to find any useful books in this tiny place?"

"It's small because most of the materials are on the network computers. The second floor has mostly books though. And this is a library of the sciences, so you won't have to wade through shelves of children's books to get to whatever subject you're looking for. Not that I understand why you'd rather have books instead of using the computers to look up the info you need."

"Because I've never seen one of those machines before, I'd rather go with what I'm used to." said Ed as they entered the building.

"Why is it that you've never seen one exactly? I know you said the world you came from is similar, but they should at least be on the same technological path, right? I mean you make it sound you were living in the 1900's or something," Aura said with a laugh.

"1915, actually, you make it sound like that's odd or something." Ed said questioningly.

Aura stopped in her tracks, turned around and pulled Ed over to a secluded section of the lobby and said "did you say 1915? That's the year you were in before you came here?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" said Ed, clearly confused with her reaction at this point.

"Oh nothing, just the small detail of it being 2013 here..." Aura replied slowly, still trying to comprehend this new revelation.

"WHAT?! You mean I'm almost a hundred years in the future of a world that's supposed to be parallel to my own?"

"Shhh... We're in a library, keep your voice down! And yeah, that kinda sounds like what's happened, strange as it seems."

Edward wasn't prepared for this and needed to sit down. A million thoughts raced through his head, involving his family and friends back home and whether or not they were still alive. Aura followed him and sat down next to him. "If this is the future, what happened to everyone I knew?"

"I don't know, we try to find some useful information to help you figure it out. Maybe there's a way to reverse whatever portal you were sent through and get back to your own original time. Don't let this get you down, let's keep moving forward."

"I've heard that before... But you're right, strange as this is, I have to find a way back. Let's go!" Ed said as he hopped up from his chair. Aura led him to where the books were kept on the second floor. Edward was amazed at their selection and began combing the shelves looking for any titles that caught his eye. Aura, not knowing what Edward was looking for, spent the time daydreaming and thinking about what Ed's life must have been like living in 1915. She wondered if they had cars, electricity, or even telephones. So many things that are taken for granted in her time, she thought. She was still distantly staring off when she heard Edward calling her name.

"Aura? Sorry for taking so long, but I found some books to read if you're ready to go." Her eyes met a stack of books that, if toppled over, could mean a trip to the emergency room for anyone unfortunate enough to be caught underneath them.

"You're kidding, right? You're going to read all of these books? I'm not even sure they'll let us borrow this many, much less the thought of how we're even supposed to get them all back home!"

"Well, I guess I could skim through them and pick out the ones that seem the most important," and so Ed began sorting through the stack and eventually ended up with a more manageable selection of books.

"Okay, and don't worry, we can always come back so just take note of the ones you're leaving behind so you can check them out later." Edward made a list and stuffed it into his pocket, then he helped carry the books to the main desk for Aura to check out.

"I think I...really should have...borrowed fewer books...why can't you take some of these books and carry them Aura?" Edward said while struggling to catch his breath under the weight of all his new reading material.

"Because I need some way of slowing you down so you don't try to play in traffic again," Aura laughed as she took a few books off the top of the load while Edward rolled his eyes and sighed.

...

It had been five days since they'd gone to the library and it seemed that all Edward was doing was reading. She asked him to take a break several times, but he'd barely acknowledge her before going back to his books. Even when she got him to eat, he'd still bring a book with him. The one thing he would stop his research for however was to teach Aura to defend herself. He'd show her defensive moves, as well as counters to many holds and attacks that she may have to face, and then sparred with her so she could practice what she learned. She enjoyed these sessions because they seemed to be the only time she saw Edward enjoy himself without the weight of his situation pulling him down.

When she went into his room to tell him dinner was ready, she found him nose-first in his current volume, softly snoring and blowing the pages of his notes back and forth with his breath. Laughing to herself, she covered him with a blanket and went off to the kitchen.

A visibly tired Edward appeared in the kitchen not long after, stretching and yawning with a book in hand as he sat at the table and started spooning food onto his plate. Aura smiled as she asked him how his research was going and asked if there was anything she could do to help him.

"Overall I haven't really learned anything useful yet. I've gotten a better understanding of this world's basic sciences, at least the ones that differ from what I'm used to. It seems that alchemy never truly evolved into the science I know it to be. There were some who believed in it's transmuting abilities, but for the most part it wasn't successfully performed." he said as he started to open the book.

"Do you really have to read while you eat? You're gonna get an upset stomach with the way you're shoveling food into your mouth. Wait, is that?" Aura paused and stared at the cover of the book. She recognized the authoring company's name, could it really be the same company her stepfather worked for?

"Hey Aura, what is it?" asked Edward, slightly more alert since Aura started staring at the book.

"I know who wrote that, it's the company my stepfather Lucien works for, Parker Labs. I recognize the logo." she told him as she pointed to the cover.

"Really... I borrowed this one because it had mention of theories on time travel. Is it possible that Lucien may be one of the people working on a project like that?" Edward was starting to get the gut feeling they had found a clue.

"I'm not sure, he never talked about work while he was at home or brought any notes with him, and I was never interested in what he did during the day, as long as he wasn't here I was happy to be honest."

"You know where this Parker Labs is located though, right? I'm thinking we should pay them a visit."

"Yeah... I do know where it's at." Aura said, her voice trailing off towards the end.

He felt a little bad not realizing at first how this discovery would make Aura feel. Her fear of her stepfather was still very real, despite how well she was learning self-defense. It was wrong of him to think she'd be okay with going with him.

"Oh well, you know Aura, you don't have to come with me if you don't feel comfortable going to that place. I know that he's the last person you'd want to run into and I don't want to put you in danger. I'll be fine on my own, just tell me where the lab is."

"I'm going Ed, don't try to talk me out of it either. I can't keep hiding in a corner hoping he won't show up anymore. I told you I wanted to help you get home, and I want to be there to do just that." She sounded a little more self-assured than she did a moment ago, maybe the self-defense lessons were helping not only to keep her safe, but also to help her feel more confident as well.

Edward was going to attempt to convince her to stay, but the look in her eyes, a fiery and determined glare, stopped him in his tracks. He conceded and watched as she ran off to her room to prepare for their mission to the lab. He had grown to appreciate her strong will when it came to things she set her mind to accomplish, and felt she could handle most anything that would come their way. But still... He worried about her when it came to her stepfather. If she had to face him, would she still have that same strong will, or would it break under the paralyzing fear he held over her?


	4. Chapter 4: The Lab, Part One

Ed and Aura had decided to wait until dark to visit the lab, in the hopes that there would be little to no personnel still in the building. They walked up to the building and paused near the entrance, which was equipped with a keycard security system.

"You'd think I wouldn't have to keep breaking into labs, but somehow they keep showing up on my to-do lists..." said Edward, mostly to himself, seeing as Aura didn't quite get the inside joke.

"Well let me take care of the... hey wait, where are you going?" Aura watched as Edward started sprinting along the side of the building until he found what looked like a vent cover twenty or thirty feet up the wall. He effortlessly climbed up to the vent, then turned to face Aura.

"I'll sneak in through here and let you in, I'll be right back." Edward swung the cover open and shimmied in before she could even reply.

_Man, he really does get impatient when he's on a mission_, she thought to herself. She reached into the backpack she had prepared before they left her house and pulled out a keycard with the Parker Labs logo printed on it. If he had waited she could have told him about the card and he wouldn't have had to climb into that air vent. Once she saw him covered in dirt she would be sure to remind him of that fact and have a good laugh. She swiped the card and was greeted by a green light, she pulled open the door and slipped inside.

She looked at the keycard before she slipped it back into her bag and paused for a moment. She thought back to that day after the will had been read and how the house looked like it had been robbed when she got home. All her family pictures were flung off the walls, the frames broken with glass shards reflecting light over the floors. The pictures themselves were gone, ripped out of the frames from the look of it. The knick-knacks her mother had kept in a curio cabinet in the corner lay shattered beneath her feet. She followed the destruction from room to room, her anger building as she began to suspect her stepfather, who had left the lawyer's office in quite a rage after he found out that he was left nothing by his late wife. That card was one of the few things she had found among the ruins of her families memories that she could save.

She found herself shaking as her thoughts brought her back to the present. After all that's happened since the day she met Edward, and how much she had changed thanks to his self-defense training, the confidence she had gathered. How can she still be shaken by her stepfather? She figured some habits were hard to break as she continued down the corridor, sticking to the better lit areas so she wouldn't have to use her flashlight and attract any unwanted attention if she wasn't alone in the area.

A notification popped up on a computer in one of the upper offices once the keycard was swiped. Lucien had set up the security system to send such a message in the event that certain cards were used. He started looking at the security camera feeds to see who had entered his building at this time of night. To his own surprise he saw Aura wandering around the halls, heading towards the main lab. "I wonder what she's looking for, or if she even knows..." he said to himself as he stood up to go greet his stepdaughter. He left the room just as the next camera feed flashed on the screen showing Edward emerging from a ventilation grate.

"Dammit, why doesn't anyone ever get their air vents cleaned?!" whined Ed, wiping dirt and muck from his pants and shirt after he had exited the vents and stiffly stood up and stretched dramatically. He looked around for the front entrance but seemed to be further into the building than he expected. "Aww man, Aura's going to think I'm purposely keeping her out of the building, she's gonna be pissed off for sure now... But where's the entrance?" He followed a long row of cubicles and doors to separate offices and noticed one with the lights still on inside. Stepping inside and closing the door softly, he turned to look around the office when he stopped and stared at a familiar but unexpected face ducking behind the desk.

"Hohenheim?! What the hell are you doing here?!" yelled Ed as his father stood up to greet him.

"Well hello Edward, what a surprise to see you here! I thought I was the only one that was sent through that portal, how did you find this place?" he asked, a look of relief clearly showing on his face.

"I did some research, why are _you_ here?" said Edward, a sour note staining his voice. He hated to admit it, but he was glad to see his father. After all that had happened, it was good to see a reminder of home, even if his father had never been a part of it. This also strengthened his belief that they had found the right place.

"Well, it's a long story, but suffice it to say, this isn't my first time in this world. During my journey after leaving you boys, I had a run-in with the homunculus you know as Pride, quite some time ago. Father had been experimenting with portals and different dimensions, using the Portal of Truth as a basis. You are aware, I'm sure, of Gluttony being a failed attempt for a Portal of Truth. Unfortunately one of his experiments succeeded with Pride and as a result I was sent here. I knew I had to return as soon as possible to continue my plan to thwart the Promised Day, so I started doing research and found this lab, which was working on several different projects that I believed could lead to the travel I was seeking."

"Well then why did it just look like you were hiding behind the desk like you were afraid to be caught. If you worked here why would you be cowering behind furniture?"

Hohenheim led Edward out the door and down the hall. "Well, I started working with the scientist that had started the research. He had the right ideas, but the project really started to take off when I brought knowledge from our world and revamped it for this world's physics laws. The man I worked with was smart and could keep up with most of my theories. But he was also obsessed with his work, and I could see the evil he had in his heart and decided that once we were ready to start up the portal, it should never be used again, least of all by him. So I saw to it that only someone from our own country and time could activate it. It had taken several years, but once we had it all set up, I snuck in, hid or destroyed my research, removed anything that he could use to figure out how it worked, then started it and went back to Amestris. I imagine after ruining his chances of succeeding in his project he wouldn't be very happy to see me if our paths crossed again. I hadn't given it much thought since I had been able to return, but I suppose during our fight with Father, he must have remembered the dimensional portal and attacked with it."

"Does that mean there may be others that got sent here as well?" Edward said nervously, hoping his brother Alphonse and any of the others that had been fighting there managed to stay out of it's way.

"No I don't think so. From what I saw before it overtook me, it was only focused on a small area near me. You'll have to forgive me but I didn't notice you were in it's path as well."

"ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY THAT I'M TOO MINISCULE TO BE NOTICED IN AN ALREADY MICROSCOPIC SPACE?!" Edward ranted as his father continued down the hallway, unfazed by his son's over-the-top behavior.

"Of course not son, I'm saying that I regret that you were pulled into this world when it looked like I was the only target. The array room is just down this corridor, I just have to make some adjustments in the control room above the chamber, then we should be able to activate it."

Ed followed along, realized that he finally had a way home. Excited as he was about returning, he couldn't help but feel sad for leaving Aura behind. There was so much more that he had wanted to do to help her out. And he especially wanted to give that jerk of a stepfather a dose of his own medicine courtesy of his auto-mail right hook. But he hoped that the time he spent teaching her self-defense would be enough to make her life better. Once he had helped his father get the device primed, he would make sure to go find her and thank her for everything.


	5. Chapter 5: The Lab, Part Two

Aura continued down the hall until she met a heavy set of double doors. She pushed them open and found herself in a large room that almost seemed like a theater or arena, with offices and rooms on the floor above looking down into it. Some large pieces of machinery were placed around the room, but the center of the room featured a remarkable circular design etched into the floor. She wasn't sure what any of it meant, but she had a pretty good hunch that it was alchemy based on what Edward had shown her while he was doing his research.

"Ed, I hope you can find your way here soon, I think I just found your ride home!" she said to herself, pleased with the thought that she would be able to help him get back home. She then realized that once he was gone, she would be alone again, and a bittersweet feeling of excitement and dread rushed into her chest. The footsteps behind her got her attention as she turned and saw Lucien enter the room and greet her with a smile.

"You know, you're awfully early for 'Bring Your Step-Daughter To Work Day' Aura. To what do I owe your presence here? Did you really miss me _that much_ since my last visit?" said Lucien sarcastically as he walked up to Aura. She stood frozen in place, staring at the one person that could break her confidence in two if she allowed it. She then remembered what she had told Ed before they left for the lab. That she refused to hide in the corner from him anymore, and this helped to calm her once the initial shock of seeing her stepfather went away.

"Don't flatter yourself Lucien, you're the last person I'd actually waste time trying to find." she fired back at him, the tone in her voice raising Lucien's eyebrows, a look of surprise on his face from hearing her speak so fearlessly to him.

"That still doesn't explain why you're trespassing on this property, you little pest, there's nothing of interest for you here!" Lucien sounded rather defensive with that statement, which made Aura wonder if there really was something here he was trying to hide. And she decided to call him on it.

"That's funny, I think that's the first time I've heard you sound desperate since we found out what was written in Mom's will."

"That will was a joke!" he yelled out, losing his cool demeanor and started stalking towards Aura, who backed away from his advance. "I didn't give a damn about her money, or that wreck of a house. But she hid something very important from me, I know she did. I expected it to have been hidden away in a safety deposit box, or perhaps somewhere in that house, something like that. But no, apparently she had it in mind to defy me right to the very end, that bitch!"

"You watch the way you talk about my mother, you bastard!" Aura was now losing her cool, she never liked hearing the hateful and disparaging remarks he would make about her mother while she was alive. Hearing him speak so disrespectfully about her now just sent her over the edge. "So you were the one that wrecked the house out of spite after she died, then?"

"Of course, but it wasn't out of spite, no. I was looking for what your mother hid from me. Although I won't lie, it felt _really_ good to destroy those stupid trinkets and burn all those family photos."

"Why would she take anything from you, all she wanted was a happy and peaceful family. But you couldn't handle that, could you, you pathetic loser!"

"You two are really one and the same aren't you, maybe I should have taken care of both of you in one fell swoop!" He lashed out and swung at Aura, who blocked it using one of the moves Ed had shown her. The anger in her eyes as she met his gaze shook him and made him step back.

"So you think you can defend yourself now, huh? Let me tell you a little secret, then... Your mother thought she could defend herself as well, and look where it got her!" He then started to fight Aura, she defended herself well, even landed a few blows on Lucien during her advances. But at one point he had been knocked over to the side of one of the machines, she didn't see him pick up a metal rod leaning against it. Just as she went to attack him again he swung the rod and hit her on the right side of her face, and she collapsed to the floor.

"See, what did I tell you? You can't beat me Aura, all you're doing is pissing me off." He continued to beat her with the bar, hitting the floor a few times and bending the end of it to a jagged edge. He threw it down and continued hitting her, and kicked her in the face as he stood up straight. The side of her face and her right eye were a bloody mess, but she still tried to block his attacks, groaning with each hit that met it's target.

Finally, he grabbed her around the neck, and pulled her up close to his face. She was barely conscious, her vision blurred by all the blows to her head as well as the swelling of her right eye. "Now let me tell you something else, I had planned to do this a few months from now, but it seems you really did want that wish to be reunited with your mother to come true! Don't worry, I'll arrange the meeting shortly, but first, I just _have_ to share my little secret with you." He slapped her lightly a few times to make sure she was still able to understand what he was saying then continued.

"Remember when I said that your mother thought she could defend herself against me too? Well, I couldn't have her doing that, not with so much at stake. You see Aura, your mother didn't just die of a sickness... I killed her."

Life flashed back into Aura's eye as she heard this and spoke slowly and weakly, "No, that's not possible... She was sick, I watched her get weaker until she passed on in the hospital..."

"That's the beauty of it though, do you have any idea how many poisons there are in this world that resemble all kinds of diseases? All you have to do is mix a little of this, a little of that, and in the right doses you can easily make it look like someone is fading away from some normal sickness."

"No... it can't be true. How could you? She was your wife, my mother..." Aura feebly spoke, her head pounding as she tried to focus on what Lucien was telling her. Could it really be true? Did he really poison her mother and made it look like a sickness? What kind of evil monster was he...

"She was merely a pawn. A pawn that grew troublesome and had to be removed. But she was a stubborn one, right to the end. She fought the 'sickness' with all she had. When it came down to the end and she was in the hospital, I knew that I had to finish things before she could let anyone know of her suspicions of me. So one night, while you had left the room, I covered her face with one of her pillows and waited for her to drift off. She tried to struggle, but at that point she was so weak she only exhausted herself and made her life slip away that much faster."

Aura was in shock, she could tell her body was hurt, but in her mind she couldn't feel a thing. Lucien's grip around her neck grew tighter, and she started gasping for air. "You evil bastard!" she managed wheeze out as he continued to choke her.

"Well now, that's a rather rude thing to say to the person who's making your wish come true! You'll be with your mother again, like you wanted, and I'll have one less bitch in my way to ruin my plans. Do tell her I said hello now." His grip on her neck grew tighter, but the fury she felt upon hearing his confession fueled her more than anything ever had, and she screamed out and brought up her legs and kicked him off of her with violent force.

Lucien was flung back against one of the machines and sat there stunned for a moment. Aura stood up unsteadily, needing that moment to regain her balance. She then started fighting back, in a blind rage, beating him until he was the one cowering in a corner. Her breathing was erratic as she grabbed the mangled metal bar that he'd beaten her with and pulled him up by his shirt. She raised it high over her head. The pointed edge, glowing in the fluorescent light, was aimed at his chest.

She let out a wrathful scream as she started to bring the weapon down at him, when she felt someone grab her wrist.

"No Aura!" Edward cried out, stopping her just before she could bring her arm down to deliver the final blow to Lucien.


	6. Chapter 6: The Lab, Part Three

"LET GO OF MY WRIST ED!" Aura yelled furiously, pulling against his grip to swing and stab at Lucien, but Edward held fast. "He doesn't deserve to live! Dammit Ed, he killed my mother! She deserves vengeance!" she struggled against Edward's grasp, but he wouldn't give in. Hearing what she said about her mother though, he was shocked and his heart felt heavy with sadness for Aura.

"Even so Aura, is this really the way you think your mother would have wanted this to go? She wouldn't have wanted you to be a murderer like he is! This isn't you Aura, that's not who you are!" Edward told her, trying to calm her down. He felt her arm trembling as he held it in place. "You told me that you wanted to help people, and you've done that for me. You have a good, strong heart Aura, don't let his darkness stain your hands, please."

Hearing Edward speak slowly brought Aura to her senses. She had felt so much built up anger and hatred, she couldn't control herself for that moment, when she had the bar up ready to kill the person who had taken so much from her. She was thankful that Edward was there to remind her that she was better than that. That she was better than _him_. Her breathing slowed, as she dropped the metal rod and let go of Lucien's shirt, who then fell to the floor in front of her. Edward moved between the two of them and held her by her shoulders and looked at her. He saw her face, and her eye and how it was cut badly and swollen shut, and his heart sank.

"We need to get you some help Aura, can you walk?" said Edward to her, and she looked at him and smiled.

"Yeah... don't worry, I'll be fine. But look, I think this is what you need... to get home." She pointed towards the array on the floor.

"Yeah it is, I met someone upstairs that can get it working, but right now I want to make sure you're taken care of, Aura, I can't leave you like this..." He had started to help walk her out, when suddenly he noticed her look at something behind him, over his shoulder.

"You...you're weak Aura, you should have killed me when you had the chance!" Lucien lunged towards Edward, aiming to plunge the metal bar into his back.

"NO!" screamed Aura, and she used all the strength she had left in her to grab Edward and turn him away from Lucien's path, shielding him. The sound of metal penetrating flesh left a sickening wet echo in Edward's mind as he watched over Aura's shoulder as Lucien sank the metal into her back before collapsing backwards to the ground.

It was Edward's turn to scream as he held Aura, who was hugging herself against him closely. He could feel her legs giving out from under her as she looked up at him weakly with tears forming in her good eye. "Get...home...Ed. They're waiting...for you there. Go..." Those last words didn't make it past her lips as she passed out in his arms. As she sank to the floor so did he, holding her close and begging her to wake up. He noticed that Lucien had gotten back up to his feet and was coming towards them. He put Aura down and went to fight him away.

Aura woke up to the sound of Edward and Lucien fighting somewhere behind her. She felt her face, blood coating her fingers. She had to make sure he got home. To her that was all that mattered in that moment. She pushed herself up and slowly started crawling forward, her arms reaching out and pulling her on. The wound in her back sending out waves of pain through her body as her hands left smears of blood along her path. She wasn't aware enough to notice it, but she had moved towards the center of the room, just outside the circle on the floor. _Just a little further. I can help him get home, just have to find the controls. _Her strength was fading quickly, each move exhausted her further. She reached out once more and landed her bloodied hands just inside the circle, and from there she couldn't move anymore.

The pattern on the floor started to glow, its color flashed a bright blue and white, which started sending up waves of color, swirling within the circular line along the floor. It grew more intense, creating a whirlwind that blew papers and debris around the room. Edward and Lucien had each frozen in place when they saw the light coming from the array.

"The portal, it's been activated?!" cried out Lucien, witnessing the event for the first time since he had started his research years before.

"Yeah, but how?! I thought it could only be activated by someone..." Edward said before noticing Lucien had begun his attack again and lunged out of the way. He landed a solid kick to the back of Lucien's head with his automail left leg. With Lucien stunned, Edward took the opportunity to grab him by the front of his shirt and pull him up towards his face. "This is for Aura! You deserve a lot more than this, you sick bastard!" Edward yelled as he socked Lucien in the face with his right arm. Lucien collapsed in a heap on the ground under the impact of Ed's metal fist. Once he knew Lucien was down for the count, he rushed over to Aura, who had been pushed back from the circle and against one of the structures surrounding it.

He turned her over and pulled her up into a seated position against him. She stirred and looked at him with a weak, watery gaze to her eye. "I told you... go home. You have to... get back to your family. Please... make it back... for me?" she said softly, pausing to catch her breath between words before fading out again.

"But how can I leave you like this? I can't do it... I won't do it! I won't lose another person I care for because of my problems!" Edward cried out. He watched as the portal he was all too familiar with open in the center of the room.

From the balcony above him, blocked from view by the machine behind him, he could hear Hohenheim yelling down to him "You have to go through it now Ed, there isn't much time!"

_Oh no, what do I do? If I leave her here, Lucien will kill her for sure. But if I don't go, I may never get to go back home, like she wanted me to. _ Thinking of her last words to him before she passed out, he knew what he had to do, but he had to move fast.

Ed looked at the portal, then back at Aura, and picked her up into his arms and started walking towards it. _I can't leave her here to die, not after all she's done for me. She saved my life more than once since I've been here, I can't let her suffer for it! _ His mind focused on the portal, he held her close and stepped into the circle, fighting the currents of air and light that were being emitted from it.

Hohenheim made it to the ground floor and entered the room. He found Lucien unconscious against some machinery back from the circle, and as he looked to the portal, he saw Edward moving into it. But wait, what was he carrying? It looked like a girl, not much older than Edward. And for a moment he wondered what was going on. A glimmer of recollection shone in his eyes as he got a closer look at the girl. Then, visibly shaken, he cried out to Edward.

"Aura! Wait... Ed!" Just as Ed got to the entrance of the portal, he thought he heard someone yelling out and turned to see his father yelling out from the edge of the room. The sound of the portal was overwhelming, but he thought he had heard Hohenheim calling out Aura's name. But how could that be? He had never even told Hohenheim that he had come here with anyone else. The thought soon left his mind as he started to feel himself being broken down by the portal. Holding Aura close, they stepped through the threshold and got lost in the darkness as the portal closed around them.


	7. Chapter 7: The Gate

Chapter 7: The Gate (In Through the Out Door)

The noise of the portal faded quickly as it closed around them, and before he knew it he was standing in front of the Portal of Truth. But he saw two portals facing each other, like when he had found his brother Al's body at his own Gate. _Is this Aura's Gate? I didn't think she'd have one, not being from Amestris_, he thought as he noticed Aura starting to awaken. She didn't seem very hindered by her injuries as she asked to be put down, but held her forehead and looked unbalanced as she stood on her own.

"Oww my head, it's aching real bad. Where are we? Are we still in the lab?" she said weakly, looking around at the massive expanse of white nothingness and staring in wonder at the doors that seemed to be floating in mid-air. She didn't feel very clear-headed, and all the brightness around her made her head hurt even more.

"Uhh.. well you see Aura... I had to bring you..." Edward was cut off by a voice he was all too familiar with.

"Well, it's been quite some time hasn't it, young Alchemist? Still trying to recover what you've lost? And who is this? I suppose you are not aware that two's a crowd here. Although... there is something very familiar about her..." Truth said casually. It was a ghostly image surrounded by a hazy black outline, with only the left leg and right arm made of actual flesh. Even without eyes, they could tell it was staring at Aura intensely. "Yes, very familiar indeed." it said with an air of realization in it's words.

"Look, we just want to get back to Amestris. We don't have any interest in learning about the Truth, especially her, you got that?! So just leave us alone and let us pass!" Edward spoke fiercely as he grabbed Aura's hand to bring her towards his Gate. Truth just watched them as he led her closer to the great door. Just before he reached it Truth spoke up again.

"Your toll has been paid by the girl, Alchemist, there's no further need for harsh words here." Truth put out his arm and gestured for them to continue on. Just as Edward got to the front of the door with Aura, it began to open up. What was behind the doors wasn't the eerie looking eye and black arm-like tendrils he knew before, but a hazy view looking down on what Ed could only assume was Amestris. _So it is possible to use the Gate as a portal between worlds_ he thought to himself as he began to walk through it.

"What is that Ed? How did we get here again, my head still hurts and it's too bright in here to see clearly!" Aura sounded nervous as she spoke, looking through this door that opened up and showed what looked like a normal town through a foggy lens. Did Edward succeed in finding his way home? Was she there to say goodbye?

"Just hold on to my hand Aura, don't let go!" Edward yelled to her as he started across the threshold. He felt a tug backward and as he looked back he saw that Truth had taken hold of Aura's left arm and held fast to her.

"Let go dammit, you said we could go!"

"You must have misheard me young Alchemist. I said _your_ toll has been paid. She has yet to pay hers." Truth said with a snake-like sound to his voice as it effortlessly pulled Aura out of Ed's grasp and forced him through the Gate. He frantically screamed out as he passed through, "don't show her anything! She never wanted to see the Truth, I was only trying to save her! Don't you dare hurt her you bastard!", his voice slowly trailed off as the Gate's doors closed.

"Now, now. You can't expect someone to come in through the "out" door and not pay a toll, can you?" Truth said with a hint of sarcasm as it let go of Aura's arm. The door Ed had just gone through vanished, the second door floated over to them in it's place. Then Truth changed, losing the arm and leg that it had shown on its transparent body before and morphing into a shape very similar to Aura. However, this version of the Truth seemed to have a purplish glow instead of the black outline the other had. "Besides, the door is now open, so take a look at what Truth really is, girl." The Gate opened up to reveal a large eye staring down at Aura. She opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. Just then, long black shadowed arms shot out of the darkness inside the doorway and wrapped themselves around Aura, dragging her towards the Gate.

"Wait! I don't know what's going on, but I don't want this! Please just let me go!" screamed Aura, making her headache worse with all the screaming. She tried grabbing onto the edge of the stone doors but the arms that pulled her were too strong to fight against. She watched as the doors closed in front of her, the last bit of that white expanse narrowing into darkness.

She felt herself moving through space, then saw what looked like film reels flying towards her. She felt the images and information these reels contained being forced into her brain. The pain was agonizing, it seemed to be a never-ending spiral of knowledge. She wasn't sure if she could take much more of this. Suddenly, she saw what appeared to be a purplish lightning bolt strike the images in front of her, the jagged lines of the bolt cut into the reels and ran down the entire length of the tape. The vortex she had been traveling through began to shine with that same purple lightning, cutting through the air, giving the sky the appearance of broken glass. She looked at her hands and saw that the bolts she had seen had originated from her own body. Her arms and legs started to flake away, just as she felt she was about to lose herself entirely, she found herself back in that bright white area with Truth.

"What is this?! What have you done?!" Truth spoke, clearly mystified at what had just occurred. Aura turned to look at the Gate and saw the stone doors were cracked, with lightning-shaped lines branching out along it's entire surface. A purple glow was being emitted from within that gave the door an eerie appearance.

"I...I have no idea, I just... my head hurts so much, and what I saw in there, it's just too much!" Aura fell to her knees, holding her head in her hands, shaking from what she had just encountered. She just wanted to go home. She wanted to be back in her normal boring life. And most of all, she didn't want to be alone anymore. She wanted Edward to be here with her, to help her understand what was happening.

"Ahh, I understand now, hehehe. This is all happening because of who you are! But now little one, it's time to pay for what you have seen. You're tired of being alone. Your arms always reaching out for someone to help give your life meaning. Your feet hesitant to move forward for fear of pain. Considering these things, the toll should be a striking reflection of that!"

Searing pain began to form in Aura's left arm, she watched as it started to disappear, unraveling itself before her eyes. It was then accompanied by similar pains in her right leg, just above the knee. She looked down to see her leg fading away as well. She heard what sounded like crackling and noticed that flesh had started to appear on this Truth's left arm and right leg, mirroring the limbs that she had just lost.

"I was only trying to help...Edward, this isn't..." Aura's voice faded away, and she felt herself falling down. She tried to brace herself with her arms, but collapsed on her left side since there was no arm there to catch her fall. The last view she saw before losing consciousness was Truth smiling down at her, waving goodbye with the arm that had belonged to her moments ago. "Time to go home now, little one."


	8. Chapter 8: The Reunion in the Room

Chapter 8: The Reunion in the Room

"Brother! Are you awake?"

_That voice, it's so familiar... _ Ed slowly opened his eyes, blinked a few times to focus them and saw his brother Al looking over him.

"A...Al? Is that really you? Am I back home?" Edward said as he saw not the steel suit of armor that had housed his brother's soul, but the body he had seen from inside the Gate only last year. He looked healthier and much older than when he'd last seen him as a ten year old boy.

"Hehehe, of course brother, who else would you expect?" Al told him as he backed away to let Edward sit up in bed. "I hope I didn't disturb you but it looked like you were starting to wake up and I couldn't wait to find out what happened! It surprised everyone when we found you laid out on the road the other day, we brought you home as soon as we did."

"I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting to see you back in your body Al, I really wasn't sure what I'd find once I got back here. What happened after Hohenheim and I were sent through that portal? Is Father still a threat?"

"Oh no, he's gone. After you and Dad disappeared we all launched a massive attack that challenged the strength of Father's philosopher's stone significantly. Mustang managed to keep him encircled in a wall of fire to prevent him from casting out other portals while we sent attacks through. Greed stepped through the fire wall and fought him, but Father struck him down and tried to take his stone as fuel. Greed was destroyed, but not before he bonded with his Father and turned his body into the weakest form of carbon there is."

"Greed's gone? What about Ling, was he..." Edward was concerned, even if the guy was a pest at times, he was a good friend.

"Oh no, Greed managed to break free of Ling before they both were absorbed into Father. After that I managed to land a few punches and destroy Father's core. Just as he wasted away, my body called my soul back one last time. I knew the fight was over, so I let my soul and body become one again. I just knew that you were still alive though Ed, and I knew if that was true, you'd always fight to come back home. So I waited there at the Gate for you."

"But how did you get back home?"

"Mustang transmuted himself and used his own Gate as a toll to bring me back. He said that he no longer needed his Fire Alchemy, that for all the damage it had caused over the years, giving it up to start repairing the past was more than worth it. He brought me back and we both spent time in the hospital. I was released a few days ago, they wanted to make sure I had recovered enough to withstand walking and light stress before letting me run off again, hehehe. As far as I know he's still there with Hawkeye, and I only just glanced at them, but I could have sworn I saw Dr. Knox and Dr. Marcoh walking towards Mustang's room as I was leaving."

"Mustang did that for you... Dammit I should have been there! That was my burden to bear, getting your body back! I'm sorry I let you down brother, but I'm here now and I want to... Oh no, Aura!" Ed jumped up out of bed, suddenly remembered his last moments at the Gate before being pushed through it by Truth. Was Aura still there?

"Is that her name? The girl that we found near you?" Al seemed less happy now, as though remembering something awful.

"So she did make it? A young girl with brown hair and a backpack?" Ed was relieved to know she made it through.

"Yeah that's her, she's here but Winry and Granny still have her in surgery. She was in pretty bad shape when we found her."

"What do you mean Al?" She had a couple serious injuries, but Al made it sound like she was fighting for her life.

"She was missing her left arm and right leg, and had several serious wounds to her back and face. They managed to take care of those wounds but they're working to stop the bleeding from her missing limbs. They said that they can only do their best and hope it's enough." Al looked at Ed, who was visibly shaken.

Ed sunk to the floor, his back against the side of the bed. Truth had done this, he knew it. After he pleaded to not make her see it, Truth had shown her anyway, and took its toll. Al gave him a moment of silence as Ed gathered his thoughts.

"This was all my fault, how could I have not realized that this could happen by bringing her through the portal? How stupid and selfish of me, but no, at the time I truly believed it to be the only option to keep her alive. Because of that belief I can't bring myself to regret that decision, even with this as a result. I'll just have to live with this guilt and hope that she can forgive me one day."

"How did you end up meeting her Ed? Why is it you felt she had to come through the Gate to be saved?" Al asked his brother, curious what kind of connection Ed had with this girl.

"She saved my life Al, on more than one occasion. That wound on her back was meant for me, but she pulled me away and got hurt instead. Without her I wouldn't have made it home. It's a long story, but I suppose if we're waiting for Winry and Pinako to finish taking care of her, I have time to tell you."

Ed shared the story of his arrival in that other world, a world that was different from their own, and much further along in time as well. He told him about meeting Aura at the small outdoor cafe, being invited to stay at her house. He told him about the night her stepfather Lucien showed up and hurt Aura, which led to Ed training her in self-defense. Al laughed a little bit when Ed relayed how Aura had saved him from being hit by a car while Ed was rushing to the library.

"Sorry for laughing brother, but I can picture that scene, you always get too impatient when looking for clues and end up being careless."

"Yeah yeah, throw some more of my flaws in my face right now why don't ya?" Ed gave Al a cross look and continued with his story. Al listened intently as he got to the part in the Lab where Ed saw their father Hohenheim and the fight that had ensued with Aura and Lucien. Al had seen both of them get trapped and taken by that portal Father had thrown at them, and had hoped that they managed to stay together in whatever place they had ended up.

"Where is Dad now? Did he come with you?" Al asked.

"No, he helped get the equipment prepared for the Gate to activate. I think he had intended to come through with me, but didn't get down to it in time. Plus I think he realized Lucien was a threat and stayed behind to make sure he wouldn't be able to cross through after us." He told Al how Aura had saved him from being stabbed in the back by Lucien, and how he had agonized over the decision to leave her there or bring her with him.

"If I left her there I was sure Lucien would have killed her, and the only other idea I could think of to keep her alive was to bring her with me." He finished his story by telling Al all he could remember when they got to the Gate. How Truth had seemed to think Aura looked familiar. Just as they began to ponder why that could be they heard a door open from the hall, and saw a blonde head peek in through the doorway. Winry hadn't changed at all, except she was wearing her medical scrubs and looked exhausted.

"Ed, glad to see you're awake, I was worried about you! I hope Al didn't interrupt your sleep too much. I have to ask, did you know the girl that we found near you?" Ed told her that he did and that she was the reason he made it home. And that she had been hurt saving his life.

"Oh, well she seems to be stable for now and resting about as comfortably as she can given her condition. Give her some time before rushing in there to see how she's doing, okay? I need to get washed up and try to get some rest myself, but she's made it through the worst of it." Winry said as she walked out of the room.

Ed thought about that last thing Winry had said. That she had made it through the worst of it, and couldn't help but think that wasn't true.


	9. Chapter 9: The Picture

She woke up slowly, easing out of her strange dreams and into what she assumed was the real world. She didn't recognize the room she was in though. Something felt off, she tried to look around but her body felt so sore all over. She moved to pick herself up off the bed, but didn't have the strength. She let out an exhaustive, yet frustrated sigh as she fell back to the bed. _Where am I? Why does this place feel so different? Why do I feel so different_? she thought to herself as she raised her right hand up to her face, and felt the thick bandaging covering her right eye.

"Wha...what happened to my face? Wait, the fight with Lucien, I remember now. I was in a large white room before, but how did I end up here. Is this...am I dead?" She spoke quietly to herself, not realizing anyone else was in the room with her.

"No, you're not dead, you're just in recovery. You were badly hurt, but Winry and Granny did all they could to help you." The voice spoke softly, she recognized it before long as Ed's voice.

"Ed, what's going on, is this your home? How did I get here?" She saw Edward come into view standing over her on the right side of her bed.

"I brought you through the Gate with me. You have to understand Aura, I thought I was doing the right thing. If I left you there, I was sure Lucien would have killed you. I couldn't stand the thought of that happening to you after all you did to help me. So I picked you up and took you through the Gate. I didn't realize what it would cost you though, I'm so sorry Aura."

"What it cost me... Oh." She reached her right arm over to her left shoulder, and felt the bandages that ended just below the joint there. She tried moving her right leg as well, but only felt a sharp pain from above her knee, but nothing below that. That thing at the Gate had taken her arm and leg from her, she remembered that clearly now.

"It's my fault Aura, I won't blame you at all if you get mad or hate me, I deserve it for what you've lost." Edward looked so sad, he stared down towards the floor, afraid to look at the damage he felt he had done to Aura. She paused for a moment before she spoke again.

"I could never hate you Ed. You believed that what you did would save my life, and here I am, still alive. You can't expect me to hate you for that. Besides, at least I still have my right arm. I'd be lost if that arm was taken, I do everything right-handed!" She had hoped her positive outlook and encouraging words would raise Ed's spirit, and it seemed to be working, because he couldn't help but start laughing just then.

"You...hahaha... you're amazing Aura. You lose half your body and you celebrate because you still have your right arm! You're too optimistic for your own good sometimes, you know that?"

"Perhaps, but I got you to smile again at least, so I consider that a small victory on my part," she said, smiling back at him.

"Still, this is serious Aura, I want you to know... If you want, I'd like to pay for you to get automail to replace what you've lost. It's a pretty serious procedure, and it takes time to get used to, but if you want it, consider it done. That's the least I could do to pay you back for all you've done for me."

"I'll have to give it some thought, but I appreciate it Ed, thanks." Aura wondered if she should go through with the surgery for automail. She had heard Edward describe the process, and all the time it took to heal and train his body to use it. She wondered if she had the strength and endurance to go through with it. She decided to give herself a chance to learn to go about life the way she was for the time being.

...

Weeks had passed since Aura had woken up to find herself in a strange new world, and lately she had been spending most of her time in a wheelchair, seated next to the window in her room. She had enjoyed staring out her window as a young girl, watching the trees swaying in the wind, the storms that came through, the outdoors always held her attention. But now all she did was gaze out there and wonder if she'd ever be able to experience the outside world the way she used to before her incident in the Gate. She felt lost, she had tried going about her normal daily activities like she used to, but even the simplest tasks proved to be so demanding now that she was short an arm and a leg. She got frustrated so easily, and gave up on things quickly, which was unlike her. Even with Ed around, and her new friends Al, Winry and Pinako all trying to help her, she felt useless and resigned to just sitting in her chair, watching the world outside as it passed her by.

"I think you should talk to Aura, she seems to be rather down lately." Winry mentioned to Ed, who was just sitting down at the table, ready for dinner.

"Yeah, I've been worried about her too. But every time I ask her if something is wrong she just tells me that she's fine and goes back to looking out the window. I'm not sure what else I can say to help cheer her up." He was concerned about Aura, but he'd been having a hard time finding the right words to say. He was worried that he'd say the wrong thing and get her more upset. He had brought up the idea of her getting fitted with automail a few more times, but she'd quickly change the subject or just not respond. It hurt him to see the person who had helped him to move forward and get back home struggle with herself day after day.

"Well, there must be something we can do to help raise her spirits." Winry looked around the room, and spotted some old books on a shelf in the corner. On it were some old photo albums from when her and the boys were little. She had an idea and told Ed she would go get Aura for dinner. Opening the door to her room, she found Aura in her favorite spot by the window. She noticed a cold chill upon entering the room as well. It was unusual since the rest of the house was so warm, but she stopped thinking about it when she got over to Aura.

"Hey Aura, dinner's ready. And I was wondering... How would you like to see some pictures of Ed and Al when they were little, I'm sure there are a few pictures they'd prefer that we never see, what do you think?"

Aura looked away from the window and up at Winry, and she smiled, "Yeah, that sounds like it might be fun."

_She looks like she's cheering up, so that's good_, thought Winry as she wheeled Aura out into the main room and to the table. Once everybody was done eating, Winry asked everyone to stay at the table as she got up, went to the shelf and picked up a couple of photo albums. Once the boys saw what she had grabbed they knew what she planned to do and let out a deep groan.

"Oh, grow up you two, I think Aura will enjoy seeing what you guys were like when you were younger." She pulled up her chair next to Aura's and placed the books in front of the two of them. She opened the first book and started pointing out who each person was in the photos. There were pictures of Winry's parents in this book, holding baby Winry, smiling and looking happy to all be together. Further in there were pictures of Winry with Ed and Al, who all looked so much younger than they were now. There were many pictures of the boys getting into trouble. Aura smiled and laughed at them, even joining in with Winry who was teasing Ed when the pictures showed Al getting the better of him.

"Yeah, keep laughing, I was only letting him win all those fights so he wouldn't cry like a baby!" Ed said, crossing his arms and pouting to himself.

"Okay chief, you keep telling yourself that," Aura said while holding back laughter, and turned the page to the Elric's family portrait. She glanced it over, but then quickly brought her attention back to it. Her smile faded away and was replaced with a look of confusion and shock. She let out a nearly silent gasp and reeled back in her seat.

"What is it Aura, is something wrong?" said Ed, who had seen her expression change suddenly and gotten concerned.

"Ed..." she paused and pointed at the photograph of Ed and Al with their parents. "What is my father doing in your picture?!"


	10. Chapter 10: The Window

"YOUR FATHER?!", said in unison by the four people in the room with Aura. Even Pinako, who until then had only been partially paying attention to what they were doing.

"Are you sure it's him, Aura?" said Al, trying to speak calmly so she would feel more at ease.

"Of course it is! You think I wouldn't recognize my own father in a picture?!" she replied, raising her voice for a moment. "He was with my mom and I until I was about six years old, then he was gone. Mom said that he had work he had to finish somewhere else. I knew he would come back some day, but as the years went on, we talked about him less. Then Mom met Lucien and rarely mentioned my father when he was around. Lucien didn't like hearing about Owen and would lock me in my room whenever I'd say my father would come back for us."

"Wait, you knew him as Owen? Interesting play on words by that old bastard. His real name is Hohenheim, Aura." Ed was silent for a moment, collected his thoughts, then continued. "I think I have an idea of what happened." Edward settled down at the table and began to share what he had learned while on the other side.

"While I was in Aura's world, I ran into Hohenheim at the lab. He said that after he left home he ran into a homunculus that could cast portals and ended up in her world. He did some research, found a lab that was working on theories for time or dimensional travel and began working with the scientist that started the research. He stayed there several years until he was able to get the portal finished. Then once it was ready he used it to get back to our world, but not before destroying his research so his partner couldn't use it."

"Wait, are you saying that you saw my father while we were in the lab?" Aura started to get upset, tears starting to well up in her one good eye, the other still bandaged. "He came back after all this time... I knew he was going to, but why didn't he come and find me?"

"I don't know Aura, I didn't think the two of you had even met at that point, much less that you were related." Ed told her, still trying to get his head around the situation.

"Why wouldn't he have wanted his research partner to use the project they worked on together?" asked Al.

"Because Hohenheim said he couldn't trust him. He felt it shouldn't fall into his hands, so he sabotaged the project. And based on that, I have a feeling that Lucien was the research partner. He knew what the portal was when it activated, so I'm sure he was the one that Hohenheim screwed out of the research."

"That may be the reason Lucien ended up with my mother. Maybe he thought my father left us his research." Aura's voice had begun to break as she spoke. She recalled Lucien telling her that he was looking for something her mom had hidden from him. It had to be the research material, that's the reason he had trashed the house back then.

"It's possible Aura, I don't understand why he went as far as marrying her to try to get to it though. Maybe... No, that's too cruel to even think about." Ed had started but didn't want to say what he thought with Aura there, she had already been through enough as it was.

"Just say it Ed, what are you thinking?"

"Well, perhaps he thought that after your mother's death, everything would be legally his. Including any research documents still left in the house or in a place previously unavailable to him."

"Which would explain why he was so angry when he found out nothing was left to him." Aura said, finishing Ed's thought. "But even after he searched the house, he never found what he was looking for. Maybe it's still out there somewhere?"

"No, Hohenheim would have known better than to leave even a scrap of a note behind. Plus he seemed to know what he was doing while he was setting up the machines in the control room back at the lab. He didn't need to follow any notes, he had it all memorized."

"So Lucien terrorized us for years, slowly poisoned and killed my mother, and... hurt me for nothing. There was no reason for it, no secret for him to find." Aura had started to feel that empty sadness again, and just wanted to retreat back to her room with the window.

"Aura, I think you may have been what Lucien was looking for. See, Hohenheim had set up the portal to only work for someone that was Amestrian. Since you are apparently his kid, the portal worked for you. It was you that started it after all, when you placed your bloody hands in the circle, it activated. I guess Hohenheim must have thought I had done it, but then... Wait, he did call out your name as we were walking through the Gate!"

"So he did still remember, I didn't think he'd forget..." Aura said quietly.

"Yeah, that bastard... Seems the only thing he's good for is leaving his kids when they need him the most!" Edward's anger began to rise. He had never had a good relationship with his father. But now learning that he had met another woman and had a child with her, he could barely contain his rage. He jumped up from the table so fast that his chair flew backwards away from him.

"I'm sure he had his reasons, Ed, he isn't a bad person. I can't remember any time when I was mad at him." Aura was getting nervous seeing Edward so angry. It was just natural for her to try to recoil from someone who was mad and aggressive. She had Lucien to thank for that fear.

"Don't try to defend him Aura, all he ever was to me and Al was a deadbeat, and now we can add a liar and cheater to the list as well!"

"Brother, please calm down, it can't be as bad as you think..." Alphonse attempted to neutralize his brother's rage, but didn't even come close.

"No Al, it is! How could he even try to claim that our mother was the love of his life with a straight face! He didn't care about HER or US!" Edward's temper had reached it's breaking point. He had to get out of the house before he blew the top off of it. He started to walk towards the door. As he walked past Aura she reached out to grab him by his arm, and caught his shirt sleeve.

"Ed, please don't go! I'm sorry all of this is making you sad, but I'm sure there's a reas..." She never got to finish her sentence before Ed went off again.

"If there is a reason I don't want to know about it. And I'm not sad, I'm angry! I'm pissed that he could be such a liar and a fake. He better hope that he never gets back here! Now let go of me Aura!" Ed yelled, trying to shake her grasp off of his arm and keep walking. She leaned out of her wheelchair and grabbed hold of his arm, pleading for him to stay and calm down. He pulled his arm back harder this time, breaking free of Aura's grasp. As he did so, the force made her lose her balance in the wheelchair and she fell out of it to the ground. She landed with a thud on her left side. She winced in pain as the stump of her left arm had taken the brunt of the fall. Everyone at the table scrambled up to help her.

Ed stood there staring down at her, tears reflecting in his eyes, his lip quivering. But before any of his tears could fall he ran out of the room and out of the house. Winry and Al helped Aura back to her chair and checked her wounds and to see if she had re-injured anything.

"I'm so sorry Aura, I've never seen him this angry before! Are you okay, does anything hurt?" said Winry, getting her settled in her chair.

"No... I'm fine, really." The sadness in Aura's soft voice was heartbreaking, "I think I'd like to go back to my room now." She slumped in the chair and hung her head down as Winry began to wheel her to her room. Al asked Winry if he could take her. Winry nodded and moved out of his way as he grabbed hold of the chair's handles.

"Aura, I know brother can be pretty hot-headed at times, but I hope you don't think he's mad at you, or that he meant to hurt you on purpose. He's always had trouble dealing with our father's absence, and doesn't know how to handle this new situation. But as for me... I'm glad to know that we have another member of our family. And I'm sure brother feels the same, he just has to work through his emotions in his own way." As Al pushed Aura towards her room, he noticed the air had begun to get colder, much more so as they went into her room.

"It's pretty cold in here, I'll have to check on the heat, do you want a blanket?" he asked Aura, who didn't seem to notice a difference in the temperature.

"No, I'm fine. I know Ed didn't mean to hurt me, but I'm sure things won't be the same now. When he looks at me, he's not going to see a sister, he's going to see proof of his father's lies. He's going to resent me for that, I know it..."

"That's not true Aura, not after all that you two have been through. You saved my brother's life on more than one occasion, helped him to get back home, even when it cost you so much. There's no way he would forget about all of that! He'll be happy that he has a sister now as well as a friend willing to risk everything for him. He cares about you Aura, that will never change."

"I hope you're right Al, I really do. Could you push me over to the window please?" Al maneuvered her over to her favorite spot at the window, asked again if she wanted a blanket since he was getting chills, but she refused again as he closed the door behind him. She put her elbow up on the arm rest and rested her face in her hand and went back to gazing out at the outside world. Even though her world and everything she had known had just been turned upside down, she found some small comfort in the fact that what she saw out the window had stayed the same.


	11. Chapter 11: The Decision To Move Forward

Several hours later, Edward came back to the house. He hesitated for a moment before opening the door to walk inside. _How could I have let her fall like that, after all she's done for me..._ That was the thought that was weighing on his mind as he stepped over the threshold. Before he even realized it a metal wrench cut through the air and smashed against his forehead. Winry, on the other end of its painful greeting, just scowled at him with teary eyes.

"YOU IDIOT! I've seen you do some stupid things Elric, but running off and leaving that poor girl defenseless on the floor has got to take the cake!" She started to swing at his face again, but Ed caught her arm before it fell back down.

"Geez Winry, don't you think I don't already feel bad about that? I don't know what happened, I was just so angry. I needed to get out to clear my head. Seeing her fall like that... I was so ashamed. That on top of everything else I was feeling, all I could think to do was run. I am an idiot, Winry. I don't need a wrench to the head to realize that." She dropped the tool and pulled Ed to her and hugged him close, her tears falling on his shoulder. He was surprised by the embrace, but it felt comforting, so he put his arms around her as well. They stood their silently for a moment, then Ed stepped away from her and cleared his throat.

"I need to go apologize to her, I don't expect her to forgive me but I have to let her know I didn't mean for her to get hurt." Edward said as Winry wiped the trails of tears off of her cheeks and nodded in agreement.

"Al moved her back to her room right after you left. I'm sure she's still awake, it's not dark yet so she'll probably still be looking out her window."

"Thanks Winry, and... I'm sorry for upsetting you as well." He walked down the hall and stopped at Aura's door. _Alright Ed, the least you can do is apologize for letting her down._ He took a deep breath and opened the door. A blast of cold air met him and it made him shiver before he could even step into the room. Just as Winry had said, Aura was sitting by the window. Ed's heart sank as he saw the way she looked. The look on her face reminded him of the way he felt right after the failed transmutation. Defeated and hopeless, sitting in his wheelchair and not knowing where to go from there. Her eyes now held the sorrow that she had seen in him when they first met in the cafe. And it was all his fault.

"Uhh, Aura, I just wanted... I want to say that, I'm sorry for what happened earlier." He struggled with his words, his emotions threatening to stop his apology before he even got started.

"You don't have to apologize Ed, you had every right to be angry with what you found out. I'm sorry for that, and I understand if you hate me for it." Her words were softly spoken, but clear.

"What?! Hate you?! No, I had no right to act like that. And no excuse for causing you to fall and get hurt. After all you've done, how could I ever hate you? That's just stupid to even think like that Aura, and I know you're not as stupid as I am, even if you are my sister." He noticed a faint smile appear on her face when he referred to her as his sister. It was strange saying it out loud at first, considering he had only had Al as his family for so long. But somehow, it wasn't that out of the ordinary to call her his sister. In some ways, he had considered her one before, after all they had been through together.

"I, I just couldn't help but think that you would resent me. That I'd be a constant reminder of what you hate most about your...uhh... our father."

"No, I could never hate you for that. I'm glad that we have another member of our family. If anything, you should hate me. After all, it is my fault you're stuck here away from your home and missing your limbs."

"I don't blame you, Ed. And honestly, I didn't have much of a life on that side anyway. You saw that for yourself. You've given me the chance for a new start, and I've just been sitting here wasting it. Staring out the window, wishing I could be out there again. But I'm just letting my handicaps keep me down. I can't do that anymore. I want to get out of this chair. I want to be able to do the things I loved to do again. I want to be _whole_ again, Ed. It's time for me to move forward." The look on her face had changed. She looked determined and hopeful again. More like the girl he had first met a few months ago. He was happy to see her like this again, but knew what this meant.

"So you want to go through the automail surgery then? Just say the word and I'll have Winry start the preparations right away!" He knew how hard this procedure was, but he knew that sitting there miserable and helpless wasn't much better.

"Yeah, I know how rough it will be, but I can't keep living like this. I just hope I can endure it. When you had your automail surgery, you had a goal to focus on, getting your bodies back. I don't have anything like that to work towards to keep me focused on recovering. I'm afraid I won't be strong enough to get through it."

"That's nonsense Aura. I've seen what you're capable of, and I know you can do this." He thought about it for a moment, and had an idea. "But how about I challenge you to a sparring match once you're fully healed. Just like the sparring we used to do when I was teaching you self defense. After the surgery we can train and once you feel you're ready we can spar for real. Would you consider that a goal worth focusing on?"

She thought about it and smiled. She enjoyed training with him, even though she had never won against him in their practice sparring rounds. She nodded her head in approval. "Yes, I think I'd like that. I'll be sure to focus on finally beating you too!"

"That's the spirit Aura! I'll let Winry know what you've decided so she can start preparing." He started to leave but then hesitated. He recalled something that he had been wondering while he was out trying to clear his head. He pulled a chair up next to Aura and sat down. "By the way, if you don't want to I'd understand. But I was wondering... if you had any pictures of you with your mother and Hohenheim."

"Actually, yeah I do. Lucien thought he had destroyed all of our family photos, but there were some that he didn't know about that I had hidden. Most of them were of me and my mom, but I did have one picture of the three of us. For some reason when I was packing my backpack before we went to the lab I felt the need to put it in there. Can you pass me the bag?" Ed looked in the direction she was pointing and saw her bag up against her dresser. He got up and brought it to her, left it in her lap and opened the pocket she said the picture was in. She rifled through the pocket before finding it. She gazed at it for a moment, smiled at the happy memories it had returned to her, and passed it over to Edward.

He had thought of the possibility while he was calming down, but had dismissed it shortly before returning home. But now he was sure as he looked at the photo and saw that Aura's mother looked a lot like his mother. Some features were different, her hair was a different shade, her eyes were different as well, but he was looking at his mother's counterpart.

"He found her on the other side. As much as I despise the bastard, I can't fault him for wanting to see her again. If I had even suspected it, I would have looked for her too." His eyes had grown watery while looking at the photo, and he took time to rub his eyes to keep the tears from falling before handing her the picture back.

"What does that mean Ed? You think that she's your mother too?"

"No, not exactly. During all the reading I was doing while over there, I found some theories that believed a person living in one world could possibly have a counterpart or 'twin' in another parallel world. I'm not sure how likely that theory is, but the fact that your mother and mine look so much alike would make it lean more towards it being possible." He stood up and yawned, then rested his hand on her shoulder. "I'll let Winry know about your decision, we'll start getting ready tomorrow. Get some sleep Aura, you're gonna need it. Good night."

She motioned for him to lean down, and when he did she gave him a big hug around his neck. She then whispered into his ear, "Thank you. Good night, my little brother."

He jumped back up as she let go and raised his metal hand up and formed a fist and started shaking it at her. "NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE, WHO ARE YOU CALLING YOUR TINY LITTLE PIPSQUEAK BROTHER?!"

"That's not what I said at all, moron. You're younger than me, so you're my little brother." She laughed at his silly overreaction.

"But that doesn't make any sense, we were born before you. So that makes you our little sister! End of discussion!" He honestly wasn't sure how to figure out who was the older sibling. He had been born in 1899 in his world, and Aura was born in 1995 in hers. A difference of nearly a hundred years! He shook his head and walked out of her room, which had seemed to warm up considerably from the time he had first walked in. He could hear her hushed giggling behind him as he closed the door, but he just smiled and walked away.

"Time travel is a pain in the ass. No wonder we haven't bothered researching it on this side." Ed muttered to himself as he went back to the main room tell Winry of Aura's decision to get automail.


End file.
